Andy Stott - "Moogfest 2012" (concert)

I've mentioned Andy Stott before (in this DJ Shadow review), but I haven't reviewed any of his material yet.  Part of that is because I'm at a complete loss for words on how to describe his music; "electronic" fails to capture the depth and richness.   Herbert turned me on to Andy Stott almost two years ago (with the two 2011 EPs "Passed Me By" and "We Stay Together") and he's been climbing my iTunes playlist since. 

NPR Music has an hour long live recording of Andy Stott playing at Moogfest, 2012-10-31 in Asheville, NC.  NPR Music also provides a direct link for an MP3.  Until I find the words to describe his music, I urge you to check out this concert.  I haven't worked out the set list yet (and it isn't listed anywhere on the web), but it includes songs from the two EPs mentioned above as well as his 2012 LP "Luxury Problems".

Links: NPR Music, Soundcloud

The Beastie Boys - "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" (spotlight)

Ok, so I always knew that the title of "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" was probably a nod to Motorhead's 1981 live LP "No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith".  Slayer's Kerry King providing the guitar solo that cements the metal/rap crossover.  But last night I noticed something in NSTB that has eluded me since 1986: stuck in between the 2nd and 3rd stanzas (at 1:33 in the video) is a one-off lyrical break not used elsewhere in the song:

Another plane - another train
Another bottle in the brain
Another girl - another fight
Another drive all night

How did I miss this?  One of my favorite Motorhead songs is their 1980 song "(We Are) The Road Crew" (from the classic "Ace of Spades" LP), where the lyrics are primarily a long list of "Another this, another that":

Another town, another place,
Another girl, another face,
Another truck, another race,
I'm eating junk, feeling bad,
Another night, I'm going mad,
My woman's leaving, I feel sad,
But I just love the life I lead,
Another beer is what I need,
Another gig my ears bleed,
We Are The Road Crew

I always knew the Beasties were clever, but this is excellent.  Why did it take me some 27 years to catch this?

The Beastie Boys: "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" (full lyrics)
Motorhead: "(We Are) The Road Crew" (studio version, full lyrics), 2005 live instrumental version

Pink Floyd - "Live At Pompeii" (concert)

I own well-worn copies on VHS and DVD, but at work I've recently been playing Youtube versions of Pink Floyd's 1972 concert film "Live at Pompeii" in the background.  I've already covered the similar but far more rare "An Hour With Pink Floyd (KQED)" from 1970.  The latter was never commercially released and is regularly purged from Youtube, while the former concert film is still commercially available and also easy to find on Youtube.  Go figure.

This is an historically important film, showing the group on the cusp of their 1973 watershed, "Dark Side of the Moon".  But I just recently discovered that the interstitial studio footage of the band composing songs for DSOTM was 1) faked, and 2) added for the 1974 re-release of the film.  It is this 1974 version that I have on VHS. 

Somewhat unfortunately, the 2003 DVD version is the "director's cut", and nicely demonstrates that more is not always better.  The songs are the same, but director Adrian Maben has added all kinds of unnecessary of additional space and planetary stock footage.  I get it, "Pink Floyd == Space Music".  But one of the strengths of the original film is Pompeii as a character, almost a fifth member of Pink Floyd.  The long tracking shots of the empty Amphitheatre, the mosaics, volcanic imagery, all help to establish the film's feel, and the director's cut undermines the beautiful (albeit sometimes modishly incorporated) imagery.  Fortunately the 1974 version is an option on the DVD; the 2003 version is to be avoided.

Enough complaining about directorial revisionism -- Maben does deserve credit for making a concert film without an audience (has this been done since?) as well as not attempting to hide the small army of staff supporting the AV gear.  Replacing the audience with staff and infrastructure and playing to an empty Amphitheatre somehow captures the desolation of Pompeii.  The songs are split between 1968 and 1971, with only "Controls" and "Careful" appearing on the "An Hour With Pink Floyd (KQED)".

1. "Intro Song"
2. "Echoes, Part 1" (from Meddle, 1971)
3. "Careful with That Axe, Eugene" (from Point Me At The Sky, B-side, 1968)
4. "A Saucerful of Secrets" (from A Saucerful of Secrets, 1968)
5. "One of These Days I'm Going to Cut You into Little Pieces" (from Meddle, 1971)
6. "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" (from A Saucerful of Secrets, 1968)
7. "Mademoiselle Nobs" (from Meddle, 1971)
8. "Echoes, Part 2" (from Meddle, 1971)

Rather than linking to individual songs, all versions uploaded to Youtube in their entirety:

Live At Pompeii: 1972 Version
Live At Pompeii: 1974 Version
Live At Popmeii: 2003 Version

Bonus Links:

From the DVD, an interview with Adrian Maben: part 1, part 2, part 3.

And finally, you can't mention "Live at Pompeii" and not mention the Beastie Boys "Gratitude", in which the entire video is a love letter to "Live at Pompeii".

Negativland - "Live at Lewis's, Norfolk VA, November 21, 1992" (concert)

Terry finally uploaded to Youtube one of my favorite videos of his from back in the day.  Almost exactly 21 years ago Negativland played at Lewis's in Norfolk, right outside of the Colonial Place neighborhood where I live.  Lewis's was a nondescript seafood restaurant that often featured bands in the evening.  Eventually it became Enrico's, a pretty good Greek restaurant, which eventually closed in a dispute with the landlord and in it's place came Phoenix Bar and Grill, which lasted less than a year (we never even tried it).  The building (4012 Colley Ave.) is currently inactive.   Of course, at the time neither Terry nor I were living in Norfolk, and I think Danette had just moved here. 

The point is that both Negativland and Lewis's are amenable to someone like Terry recording the entire event.  We were both big fans of Negativland, and this was right in the middle of their struggle with U2, Island, and SST (see my reviews of "Guns" and "U2" for background info).  I must have watched this video 20 or more times; but since he recorded it on S-VHS, I never got a VHS copy.  And although I've watched it enough that it seems like I was there, I'm slightly ashamed to admit that I missed this concert and attended a VT-UVa football game instead (although Terry has it marked as "October 21", I'm pretty sure this was actually November 21, 1992).  Fortunately, Terry took my copy of "Guns" and got Mark Hosler to autograph the inside fold (see above pic).  Apparently Mark did not approve of my choice of weekend entertainment either (also, it rained and VT lost -- a bad choice all around).

So I wasn't there, and most likely you weren't there either (it's not a big place), but thanks to Terry it can seem like we were there:



I don't normally embed videos, but this one deserves it.  You really should watch the whole thing, but some highlights include:

• 26:20 -- "Time Zones"
• 31:05 -- "Black Lady of Espionage", segueing into "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"
• 1:04:10 -- "Christianity is Stupid"
• 1:11:20 -- Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA"
• 1:24:40 -- Terry interviews Mark Hosler (while Mark has a post-show fish sandwich)

Craig Baldwin used part of this concert footage in his film "Sonic Outlaws", earning Terry a credit in the liner notes.

Also, instead of reviewing it as a LP, I'm starting a new series simply called "concert". 

Red Rider - "Lunatic Fringe" (forgotten song)

In recognition of an entire week of government furlough, I'm reaching back to 1981 with Red Rider's "Lunatic Fringe", their single from the LP "From Here to Siam".  I loved this song when it came out in 1981 and still enjoy it. 

Why "Lunatic Fringe"?  Because about 30 people are holding hostage the function of our government, cowing those who should know better.  

Lunatic Fringe
I know you're out there
You're in hiding
And you hold your meetings
...
Cause you gotta blame someone
For your own confusion

Yes, I know the song is a rebuke of neo-Nazis, and yes I know about Godwin's Law but Ted Cruz went there first.  I'm not saying the Tea Party should be compared to Nazis, I'm just saying their minority ideology is a cancerous fifth column that threatens the Republic.  How?  Let's review:

1.  The legislative branch passed the ACA.
2.  The executive branch signed it into law.
3.  The judicial branch upheld it as constitutional.

That's a constitutional hat trick, and it's the law of the land*. 

Red Rider - "Lunatic Fringe"
 


* For those who are unclear about this, I invite you to recall the Schoolhouse Rock videos "I'm just a Bill" and "Three Ring Circus".

The Green Pajamas - "Kim The Waitress" (forgotten song)

"Kim The Waitress" was originally released as a non-LP single in 1986 by the prolific, Seattle-based cult band The Green Pajamas.  Never heard of them?  Me neither, but you might remember "Kim The Waitress" from the more popular 1994 version from Material Issue, off their 1994 LP "Freak City Soundtrack".  Their version received a fair amount of airplay at the time, but that was really their only hit and Material Issue split up shortly after that.  Bonus points if you knew that there was also a 1994 version released by Seattle-based Sister Psychic, off their LP "Surrender You Freak".

What does this have to do with Danette's birthday?  I remember ca. 1997 (before we were together) discussing this song with her.  Although the Material Issue version was released in 1994, but I think it was still a current song on the radio.  I had liked the song immediately, but Danette was somewhat puzzled by the theme.  Exactly what is it about the waitress and men's fascination with them?  Well, it's not really about her as a waitress, although the job description does require that they be nice to you.  Combine that with alluring and possibly mysterious feminine presence, and you get the kind of male obsession that the song aptly captures:

Pressed lips and slender hips
Turning, in my head
Writing poems in a corner booth
That I'd die, if she read
Seeing her in but a silver cross
Lying on her bed 
...
Sometimes she comes with coffee
Reaching over, pouring
I'd like to gently pull her to me
Kiss her, with no warning
Seeing her on some sunny summer Sunday morning
...
She doesn't come around anymore
And that bothers me (I'm unhappy)
It bothers me (I'm unhappy)
It bothers me (I'm unhappy)

Though I don't stand a ghost of a chance with her
She's pretty (and it bothers me)
So pretty (and it bothers me)
So pretty (and it bothers me)
And it bothers me (I'm unhappy)

Sure, that's not yet quite stalking but you can probably see it from there.  Although Danette has never been a waitress, she's been the object of this sort of attention many times before (and often discovering this well after the fact).  And there I was explaining this point of view to her, all the while already my feelings for Danette becoming not entirely unlike the song's protagonist.  It wasn't entirely clear how to say "...and guess what? I feel this way about you."  So while not a typical love song, that's how I've come to link this song to Danette.

Material Issue made one slight change in the lyrics that made the song darker than was written by The Green Pajamas.  The chorus was originally:

No one can save us
But Kim The Waitress

Material Issue changed it to:

No one can save us
From Kim The Waitress

Thereby transforming Kim from the unintentional hero to the unintentional villain.  Turns out there was a real waitress named Kim, and when she learned of this song much later in life she apparently took it in good humor.  However, unlike the song writer I ended up together with the object of my fascination.

The Green Pajamas: "Kim The Waitress", 2009 live version

Material Issue: "Kim The Waitress"

Sister Psychic: "Kim The Waitress"

The trailer for a short film based on the song, by Scott Eriksson.  The full film is also available, but it explores the darker avenue of this song (e.g., "and it bothers me").

Prior Danette Birthday postings, the beginnings of a loving but irreverent mix tape: 

2012: The Cure - "High"
2011: Blink 182 - "Josie"
2010:  Dead Milkmen - "Punk Rock Girl"

The Naked and Famous - "Passive Me, Aggressive You" (LP Review)

Quick -- how many bands do you know that hail from New Zealand?  I count three; I'll treat Split Enz & Crowded House as one band, but I'll also include the Flight of Conchords as a band (which I admit is debatable).  The third, and surely deserving of your attention, is Auckland's The Naked and Famous (TNAF).  The local alt-rock station (96.1) started playing "Young Blood" in high rotation over a year ago and after poking around on Youtube, I decided to buy their 2010 debut LP "Passive Me, Aggressive You".

My iTunes play counts don't lie: I really like this LP.  I recall on the first listen, on every track I recounted the various moody, 70s & 80s synth pop influences (e.g., Roxy Music, Joy Division/New Order, Depeche Mode) but there were so many that I eventually decided if you incorporate dozens of different influences and update them by 20+ years then you've really created something new.  Another thing they offer is they rock a lot harder than any of their influences -- they must have every distortion pedal that exists in New Zealand.  The other distinguishing characteristic of the band is that Aaron Philip Short & Alisa Xayalith work the shared, male/female lead vocals to perfection.

I recently I bought their first two EPs and while not bad, they don't give any hint of how well this LP would come together.  Their next LP, "In Rolling Waves", is due in less than a month and the advance single ("Hearts Like Ours") is already out.  We'll see if they can catch lightning in a bottle twice.

Standout songs: "All Of This" (live version), "Punching In A Dream", "Young Blood" (live version), "Girls Like You" (live version), "The Sun"* (live version), "Jilted Lovers", "No Way"

Skip 'em songs: "Eyes" (they carry the John Hughes soundtrack influence too far here...)

Final score: 9/10

Bonus link: lots of good stuff on their Youtube channel



*="The Sun" makes it clear that their LP collection contains "Kid A" too.